ACTS 8:26-40 HOW GOD MIGHT LEAD YOU TO MINISTER2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 8:26-40 How God Might Lead You To Minister

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. We're going to be in Acts chapter 8 this evening, looking at verses 26 through 40 to finish off the chapter. And so as usual, we want to begin by reading through that passage together. Acts chapter 8, starting in verse 26, says...

Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship.

Verse 29. Verse 32. Verse 33.

The place in the scripture which he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent. So he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this?

Verse 36. And he answered and said,

So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. Verse 39. Now when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Here as we finish up Acts chapter 8 this evening, we're kind of concluding this look at Philip that Luke records for us here in the book of Acts.

We began Philip's journey in chapter 6 as he was appointed to help in the distribution of resources to the widows. And then in chapter 8, we got to see Philip a little bit more as he was one of those who was dispersed from Jerusalem when the great persecution was brought upon the church in

led primarily by Saul of Tarsus. And Philip went from Jerusalem to Samaria, and we got to see God do a great work in Samaria, and revival is breaking out, and even this great sorcerer that had been renowned in the area got saved, and the

the apostles went up there and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the believers there. And so we've been looking at this ministry of Philip. And now we're going to look at one last segment of his ministry before Luke moves on to Saul of Tarsus and the work that God's going to do through him.

But as we look at this last glimpse at the life and the ministry of Philip, we get to see some amazing things that take place as God leads him in some unique ways. And as we look at this passage, I've titled the message this evening, How God Might Lead You to Minister. What I think is interesting about this passage is the many different ways that we see God minister.

to instruct Philip on which way to go and what to do and how to minister. And God is leading him in a variety of ways. And I think this is really important and interesting to consider because I'm sure you just like me, it's so easy for us to get stuck in our routines. And we get stuck in these mindsets where we expect things to happen the way they've happened in the past.

We expect God to work in the way that he's worked in the past. We expect God to speak in the way that he has spoken in the past. And as we get stuck in these patterns in our minds, I think sometimes we miss out on things that God wants to do.

primarily just because of our expectations and assumptions about what we're looking for God to do, as opposed to really being open to what God wants to do right now and understanding that that might be different than what has happened before for us or even for others around us. It's often been observed in the ministry of Jesus that when he worked a miracle, when he healed people, he always did it in different ways. He did it in a different way.

All the recorded miracles that we have in the Gospels, they're all...

done in different ways. There's not one method, you know, for healing blind people. Jesus didn't always spit on the ground and make mud and put it on the eyes. Sometimes he did that, or one time he did that. Other times he did something different. And each miracle was that way, that he did things in different ways. Every time was unique. Every time was different. And we need to come to grips with that in our lives as well, that when God is working in our lives, he's going to be working in unique ways.

different ways that are appropriate to where we are and the situation that we're in and the way that he wants to work in us. And so this evening, I want to encourage you to break out of those patterns that perhaps have developed in your mind, you know, those tendencies to have this expectation that it's going to be exactly like it was in the days ahead.

And I would encourage you to be open to whatever God might want to do and however God might want to speak to you and to lead you, specifically to minister and to be available to the people around you that God wants to reach.

And so we're going to look at five points this evening here in Acts chapter 8. Five things really that are examples of ways that God might lead you. Five ways that God might direct you. Now, of course, this is not a complete list of

of every possible way that God might lead you, but some examples to help you be open to God's leading in your life. And so the first one we'll look at is in verses 26 through 28, and that is, God might speak through an angel.

I'm sure that's not what you're expecting, right? You're not expecting to hear from an angel, but it's something that God might do. In verse 26, we see right there at the beginning, now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip.

Now, Philip here is at Samaria at this time, and he's in the midst of this revival that's taking place, and all these people are getting saved, and it seems like there's a great work that's happening there in Samaria. And then as Philip is ministering to these new believers and perhaps continuing to share the gospel with the Samaritans that are not yet believers, an angel appears to him, and

And of course, that would be quite an experience. As we think about an angel appearing to Philip, it doesn't give us details. Was, you know, the angel bright, white, you know, shining and that kind of thing? It probably was the kind of angel that we think about when we use the word angel. But also, it's appropriate to consider that the word angel simply means messenger.

And so many times that word angel is used to those spiritual beings created by God who are his angels, like Gabriel, a messenger, like Michael the archangel. And so they are, you know, spiritual beings created by God to be his messengers. But sometimes an angel is just a way to refer to any messenger of God. And we see an example of that, of course, in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

as Jesus writes letters to the angel of the church of Ephesus or Pergamos or the other churches. And the angel of the church is probably not an angelic being, a spiritual being, but it's probably the pastor of the church, the messenger to the church that God has appointed. And so it can be, of course, a supernatural angelic being, or it can be a messenger, someone that God has given a message to,

to, for us, and that is brought forth. Now, the thing to take note of as you think about this and understand that God might speak to you through an angel that might be a spiritual being, and understand and be open to that. If God wants to do that, you know, don't be afraid of that. You know, of course, the angel says don't be afraid whenever they appear, right? So we're going to be fearful anyways, but don't be afraid of it and be open to it because if God wanted to,

He could reveal an angel to you and deliver a message for you. But also, we need to take note and understand that we're not just to receive what an angel says without checking it out. Remember, Paul says in Galatians chapter 1, if an angel preaches a different gospel, then let him be accursed. Don't receive that. And so, you know, a supernatural experience doesn't guarantee that it's a message from the Lord. We got to check things out by the word of God, whether it's a spiritual being, whether it's a

pastor, messenger, or maybe a friend or family member that God has given them a message for you and he's wanting to direct you through it. But when an angel speaks from the Lord, whether it be a supernatural being, whether it be another type of messenger, when an angel speaks from the Lord, whatever form that takes,

The encouragement as we look at this passage is to respond like Philip. Look again at verse 26. It says, And then verse 27, just the first part.

So he arose and went. And here's the point to take away from this, I think, that an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and said, Arise and go. And so Philip arose and went. I think this is important for us to take note of. And we'll see this repeated also in this chapter, that when the Lord spoke to Philip in a

The angel of the Lord spoke and said, arise and go. So Philip arose and went. And that is something for us to pay attention to. Because God might speak to you through an angel. He might send a messenger, supernatural or otherwise. And it's upon us. We have a responsibility then to take that instruction and put it into action. Now there's probably good reason why

Philip might consider not arising and going because there was a great work that was happening in Samaria. Going back to verse 6 here in Acts chapter 8, it says, And so there were some exciting things. I mean, there was multitudes responding there in Samaria. It was an exciting time and exciting work.

And so Philip, when he gets this message, I would imagine, you know, trying to put myself in his shoes or his sandals that, you know, like, well, do I want to go? Notice in verse 26, it points out, this is desert.

Do I want to leave this exciting place and go down to the desert where there's nothing, where there's just, you know, dirt and sand? And do I really want to go from here to there? Do I really want to take that step? I could imagine some internal conflict within, but Philip is faithful to be obedient when God is speaking to him.

also kind of wonder this. This is a little bit of a side note, but I wonder if God spoke to Philip by an angel in this case, because he wouldn't have paid attention if God spoke to him in a different way. We'll see in just a moment. The Holy Spirit speaks to Philip. That's a little bit more subtle. It's a little bit, you know, less glamorous than an angel appearing and filling the room with light. You know, it's a slightly different experience having the Spirit speak to your heart versus an angel appear to you. But maybe Philip needed that. Maybe Philip

He needed that kind of awakening, that kind of, you know, bold, you know, pronouncement in order for him to kind of be willing to jump out of this great work that was happening that was so exciting and so wonderful and so awesome, and he loved it, that he needed a little bit more of a push, you know, a little bit more of a declaration from the Lord to be able to, you know, be willing to go and do this step that God is calling him to do.

It was a kind of a big step for him. So he's stepping out of something that's happening great and now moving towards the desert where not much is going on. Now, quick look at the geography here to understand what's happening. We start out in Jerusalem where Philip is with the rest of the church in the beginning of Acts chapter 8. And then the church is dispersed because of persecution. And

And so Philip, amongst others, flee from Jerusalem, and he ends up 35 miles north in the city of Samaria. And so that's where he's ministering. That's where this work is going on. Exciting things are happening. Now, when this angel appears to him,

The angel is asking him to take a journey down to Gaza. So it's a little bit of a distance. It's not, you know, just around the corner or just down the block. You know, he's got to go 50, 60, 70 miles to get down to Gaza, depending on, you know, where on the road he picked it up.

But there was a road that went down from Jerusalem to Gaza there. And so he gets down to that road, and that's where he's going to encounter this Ethiopian eunuch. It's desert. There's nothing down there. But God told him to go. And so what does Philip do? He gets up, and he goes. God might speak to him.

Verse 27 again, it says, This is what we like to call a divine appointment. God had arranged this meeting.

He knew exactly what time, what day this guy would be on this road journeying back to Ethiopia. And so he sends an angel to Philip, brings him down to meet up. It's a divine arrangement that these two would get together and ministry is about to happen. Now this guy, he is from Ethiopia, which is down a little bit past Egypt, and so he's

been spending some time in Jerusalem, and now he's on his way back to his home, to Ethiopia.

Now, Ethiopia at that time was ruled by a queen. And so that's why he refers to it, refers to under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. And so the queen's son was usually the king, but the king, you know, was honored and revered. But it was actually the mom, the queen mother who ruled the nation. And so he is a eunuch under this queen who rules the nation of Ethiopia.

Now, the word eunuch, literally it refers to, you know, someone who's been castrated. But actually, by this time in history, it probably was not the case that that had been done to him. Later, it became a title or a position of authority within the government. And so it was a place of prominence, kind of like a general or

like a governor, you know, that kind of thing. And so he was an important person as far as the structure of the kingdom of Ethiopia was concerned. You'll notice in verse 27, it says, a eunuch of great authority. And so God has arranged this divine appointment to bring these two people into contact. Two people from kind of opposite ends of the earth, you know, a guy from Ethiopia and then Philip,

We don't know where he was from originally, but he was in Jerusalem, but not anymore. So even though this eunuch came to Jerusalem, Philip wasn't there. And he was up in Samaria. And so God arranges for them to meet up, to gather together, to join up so that this Ethiopian eunuch can hear the gospel and have an opportunity to respond to it. And God likes to do those kinds of things because he cares about people.

And he sets divine appointments, not just for Philip's. And remember that Philip was...

One of the regular guys. He wasn't an apostle. He was like the rest of us. He was, you know, a Christian. He was someone who believed in Jesus and served the Lord. And this evening, I wanted to remind us and encourage us that God wants to lead us and have us encounter and contact people like this as well. Now, I'm not suggesting that this is supposed to happen five times a day or even once a week, but that there should be these times that God is arranging for us

to connect with others, to minister to them. And sometimes in arranging that, God might speak through an angel. Remember what the Lord showed us in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2. It says, God might speak to you through an angel.

And it might be someone who fills the room with glory, a supernatural being. It might be some stranger that you don't even know, but...

God has sent them as an angel to bring forth a message to you. Or maybe God brings a spiritual authority in your life and brings forth that message. Or a friend or family member who has a message from the Lord for you. God is able to lead you in those ways. And when God speaks, whatever the form might take, even if it doesn't make sense to you, even if you think, well, that's desert. Why would I go there?

Make sure that you arise and go like Philip did. Thomas Nelson says, faith in God means being ready to move without explanation. That's the hard part for us, right? The without explanation. When God speaks, again, whatever form that takes, when he brings forth a message to you from an angel, arise and go, even if you don't understand it. Well, moving on to verse 29 and 30, we have point number two, and that is the spirit might speak to you.

So this is a little bit more subtle. God doesn't only speak through angels, whether that be spiritual beings or the people around you, but sometimes he speaks directly to you by the Spirit. Verse 29 says, The Holy Spirit now begins to speak to Philip. Now notice this is happening as he goes. So the angel didn't reveal to Philip, okay, here's the blueprint.

First, what you're going to do is you're going to take this road. You're going to get down to this road. You're going to make a left here. You're going to go over there. Then you're going to see this chariot. Then you're going to talk to this guy. Then you're going to, you know, he's going to be reading this passage. And then you're going to expound upon it and teach him about Jesus. And then you're going to be able to baptize him. And, you know, he didn't give him the whole path of all the things. He just said, here's the first thing. Go down to the desert.

And then as Philip obeys and goes, then God gives him the next thing. And so again, that's why we need to go, arise and go as God speaks, even if you don't understand, because the next instructions will come when you get to where God wants you to be. But again, the thing that we need to understand is the next instructions might come in a different manner than the previous instructions.

This could be really tough for us. I mean, I don't know about you, but I really like sameness. I really like routine. I really like things to happen the same way, to always be the same format, you know, to always be the same pattern. I like that, that repetition. But the Lord speaks now to Philip in a different way than he spoke to him before to give him the next step in this instruction. And this time it's the Spirit speaking to Philip.

Now the speaking of the Holy Spirit is a little bit more difficult to explain or perhaps understand than other forms that we might talk about of God leading. Because this happens more internally. And although it happens internally, it can be incredibly clear when the Holy Spirit speaks to you.

The Holy Spirit can speak to you in a way that is just absolutely clear, this voice that the Spirit brings or this message that the Spirit brings to you. But also sometimes when the Holy Spirit speaks to you, it might be a subtle thought. And so it might not be, you know, the clarity that you would want or hope for or demand, but it might be a little bit more subtle that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. And there's a lot of variety in here in the way that the Holy Spirit can speak to you.

Do you hear voices in your head? That's kind of one way to evaluate, you know, the voice of the Spirit. You know what your voice sounds like, right? And so the Holy Spirit, when He speaks to you,

It's slightly different. Maybe you hear your mom's voice in your head sometimes or your dad's voice, right? When you're doing something that, you know, maybe they kind of instructed you on. It's like, you know, you can hear that voice and you recognize you're like, oh yeah, my dad used to tell me that or that kind of thing. In a similar way, there's the voice of the Spirit that's speaking to you. And it's a little bit of, it's a little bit, it requires a little bit of trial and error to learn to recognize the voice of the Spirit, right?

that you need to learn to understand and to identify the voice of the Spirit. And that can be a challenge for new believers. It can be a challenge for old believers that, you know, there's those times that the Spirit is speaking to us and we're wondering, we're still trying to evaluate, we're still trying to discern. Is that the Spirit or is that my own imagination or is that, you know, my mom's voice in my head, you know? What is that? Is that really the Holy Spirit speaking to me?

And so we need to learn. We need to take that time to consider and to take those thoughts that we have to the Lord and consider the evaluations, or I'm sorry, and evaluate the things that are going on in our minds and our hearts and learn to recognize. It's kind of like learning to recognize things

We don't really have to worry about that so much anymore with caller ID on our phones, but you know how it used to be, remember, when someone would call and you're trying to figure out who they are just by the sound of their voice. And in a similar way, as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, he puts thoughts in your minds. He gives direction to your heart, and there's a distinct voice to it, and you can learn to recognize this is the Holy Spirit speaking to me. As you begin to

Put into practice the things that the Holy Spirit is saying and you see, oh, this was the Lord and you begin to recognize and identify that voice and there's a need for us to continue to maintain that. One of the things that happens if you stop responding to the Holy Spirit speaking is you start to forget what he sounds like. You start to miss out because you're forgetting how the Lord sounds and how he speaks to your heart and so we need to keep that fine-tuned by being obedient as the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

Now, one of the things to consider in this as well, the Holy Spirit might speak to you directly to your heart and in your mind. And one of the tools that the Holy Spirit loves to use is the word of God. And the scriptures are a powerful way that the Spirit ministers to us. In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17, as Paul is talking about our spiritual armor, he says to take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The word of God is the Spirit's tool, and he uses that many times. And so it's important for us to be in the word because the Holy Spirit will use that to speak to us and to give us direction. And in those times of need and in those times of opportunity, the Holy Spirit will bring forth the word that we've read back to us that he might still speak to us further and give us more clarity on what he wants.

And so we need to learn to hear the voice of the Spirit. And I would encourage you to ask God to help you learn. He wants you to learn to recognize His voice. He wants you to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. And so if you ask God to help you in this, He's going to help you

in it. I remember one season where I was really asking the Lord to help me to recognize the voice of the Spirit and also to help me, like, respond. You know, as soon as the Spirit spoke, I just, I wanted to respond and be obedient to just instantly, you know, when the Holy Spirit spoke, then arise and go. And it just happened immediately. And I remember that season as I was asking the Lord for that, this one occasion, I've shared this example before, you guys might recognize it, but

I was working at Paychex in San Bernardino and I was coming home and I always had the choice, you know, to go the 91 route or to go the 10 route. And I was about to go down the 10 and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, no, take the 91. I was like, ah,

There's always that chance, you know, that bad traffic there around Arlington, that area. So it's like, I don't know. But I was like, okay, I want to be, you know, I believe that was the Holy Spirit. Okay, so I want to be obedient. I want to practice this. And so I took the 91 instead of the 10.

And then a little bit ways down the road, the Spirit began to speak to me, and I was in the fast lane. I moved over to the slow lane, and right there in front of me when I was doing that was David Downs. His car was broken down on the side of the freeway, and so I was able to pull off, and I was just like right there at the right place at the right time. Nothing major happened. There was no car healing or no resurrection of his car or anything like that. I just hung out with him and waited for the tow truck with him.

but it was a reminder to him. You know, God was taking care of him and he just brought me at the right time. And it was instruction to me. I got to learn about the voice of the spirit and how the spirit speaks and how he sounds. And there's that ministry of the Holy Spirit to us in that way. Isaiah describes it this way in Isaiah chapter 30, verse 21. He says, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. God wants to work in your life. He wants to direct you

And one of the ways that he might do that is by the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Now, whenever the Holy Spirit speaks to you, I would encourage you to respond like Philip. Look again at verse 29. Then the Spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. Verse 30. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading?

The Holy Spirit spoke to Philip, go near and overtake. So what did Philip do? He kind of like slowly, kind of casually meandered over to this chariot. No, no, he ran to him. The Holy Spirit spoke, Philip ran. I really want to have a heart that responds in that way. That when the Holy Spirit speaks, my heart is engaged and eager and running to do the instruction that God gives me to do.

The Holy Spirit might speak to you. I would suggest, actually, this could be a better phrase. The Holy Spirit will speak to you. Now, an angel might appear to you, but the Holy Spirit will speak to you. This is something that the Holy Spirit is going to do in your life. So learn to recognize the voice of the Spirit. And when He speaks, respond like Philip and run to follow the instruction that the Holy Spirit gives you. Well, moving on to verse 31 through 35, we have point number three here.

Point number three is people might ask you questions. Another way that God might lead you to minister to people is not from you doing something or hearing something or having some, you know, prompt in your heart, but other people might invite you to minister. And this happens because, again, God is working in people's hearts. People around you have a lot going on in their lives.

They have a lot going on in their hearts. And God is at work. There's spiritual battles that are raging around us. There's eternal things that are happening, that are being formed every moment of every day. And it might not appear that way as we look around, but there is an internal work. There's a spiritual work that is really going on. And God is doing that. He's reaching out to these people in the midst of all that is going on. And so sometimes...

Because God's at work in people's lives, God will use them to invite the ministry that needs to take place. Think about it like this. This guy, this Ethiopian eunuch, he was not Jewish, but here he is reading from the prophet Isaiah. He's not Jewish. He's not from nearby. He's from far away in Ethiopia. But here he is in Israel reading from the prophet Isaiah.

He's spent some time in Jerusalem, but he's headed back. He could have been reading anything. He could have just been singing songs, or he could have just been, you know, entertaining himself in some other way, but he's reading the prophet Isaiah. Now that's challenging even for us today, right? As believers filled with the Holy Spirit, reading the prophet Isaiah, that's not something you kind of just casually do in your chariot, you know, unless the Lord's really stirred your heart, right?

Unless God's doing a work. God's been preparing this guy for this moment. And I think what we need to recognize many times is that God is doing a similar work in people around us. He's working in their lives because he loves them and he wants to reach them. And so here this guy is being stirred up and the Lord brings Philip alongside and says, hey, do you understand the prophet Isaiah? Do you understand what you're reading? And he responds in verse 31 and says,

How can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. Philip, he runs alongside this chariot. He hears this guy reading. He's reading out loud the prophet Isaiah. I can imagine Philip's heart quickening a little bit like, this is really exciting. Look, not only is he reading the prophet Isaiah, the place that he's reading from is a direct reference to Jesus.

I can imagine Philip just kind of getting excited. Well, whoa, this is really cool. I mean, God's timing is awesome. So he says, do you understand what you're reading? And the Ethiopian eunuch gives a really honest answer. He says, I don't really understand. How can I understand? Again, you can see that God has been preparing his heart. God's been preparing his heart. I mean, I'm reading a lot into the text here, okay? So please forgive me on that. But

It's safe to assume six months prior to this, if Philip had asked him, hey, do you understand what you're reading? That he could have answered, oh yeah, I understand it. I mean, you know how that is, right? People have that kind of bent, that tendency. But here he is, he's just honest. He's, I don't really understand. How can I? And he invites Philip. He doesn't know this guy. He doesn't know anything about him. He's just some stranger on the road. But why don't you come on up into the chariot and maybe you can explain to me the prophet Isaiah. Verse 32.

Here the Ethiopian eunuch is reading from Isaiah chapter 53.

And I'm not going to jump there. I'm not going to get into Isaiah chapter 53. You can check that out later. But it's an incredible place to be reading. Incredible description of Jesus found in Isaiah chapter 53 and prophecy of Jesus and his suffering there.

description of him and the things that he went through. It's very clear as you read through it. It's like, wow, it fits. It's Jesus that's being referred to here. And so he's reading this exact spot, which is like probably the clearest reference to Jesus in the Old Testament. And Philip has this awesome opportunity. Verse 34. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of some other man? And

Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him. So here again is this invitation by this guy. Why don't you get in the chariot with me and help me understand this. And so he reads the passage there from Isaiah chapter 53. And he looks at Philip and says, so who's he talking about here? Is this, is Isaiah talking about himself? Or is Isaiah talking about someone else? Now the rabbis...

then and today would teach that Isaiah was talking about the nation of Israel as a whole and how Israel as a whole has suffered. And so they look at it not as a description of a particular person, but as, you know, a description of the nation as a whole. But it doesn't quite fit. And this guy, he doesn't know that. He doesn't know what the rabbis teach, apparently. He says, what's this about? Who's he talking about?

And it gives Philip this opportunity to open his mouth. And he begins here at this scripture and he preaches Jesus to him. Incredible door just slammed open for Philip.

I mean, it's the equivalent of someone walking up to you and saying, you know, what do I need to do to get saved? How can I be born again? It's kind of like that happening. You know, it's just this incredible open door that's presented to Philip and this invitation given by the Ethiopian eunuch. Hey, can you share the gospel with me? Can you tell me about Jesus? I want to know about Jesus. Can you tell me about Jesus? It's an incredible thing that God does here as he's working in this guy's heart.

Now, one of the things I like to consider as we look at this passage is, you know, there's something refreshing about letting God do the work in people's lives. We need to learn to let God do the work in people's lives. We can't be the Holy Spirit. Philip could not have brought the Ethiopian eunuch to the place where he is so receptive and open to the gospel message. But the work of God is taking place.

Now, there are times when God wants us to assert ourselves and not wait for an invitation. But I would suggest to you that when that is going to happen, God's going to tell us to assert ourselves and not wait for an invitation. But that also, there are going to be many times where God's working in their hearts, He's working in other people's lives, and He's working in their hearts.

And he has this divine appointment set up so that we happen to encounter one another, whether it be us and an unbeliever or us and another believer that God wants us to minister to. He arranges these times and these, you know, quote unquote coincidences or chance meetings or chance encounters. It's all arranged by God. It's God doing a work for

And there's something refreshing about just enjoying it and letting God do the work that he wants to do. It's really all up to him. When he wants you to assert yourself, he'll tell you. Assert yourself. He'll lead you. Maybe an angel will appear to you. Maybe the Holy Spirit will speak to your heart. And he'll give you that prompt. He'll give you that push. But there's also so many times where God just wants to let you let him work. He wants you to allow him to give him space to work and he'll bring joy.

people to you that are ready, that are open, that need to be ministered to in some form or capacity. That's kind of what, you know, the prayer shirts are all about. It's about being available and then people respond as God is working in their hearts. It's not the only way that God works and it's not the only time we should pray for people is when they respond, but it is one of the ways that God works.

I think many times we, you know, we want to do the work of God and bring people to the point of being receptive, but we can't do that. When God tells you to do that, not to, you know, you can't do the change in them, but when God tells you to assert yourself, well then assert yourself. But when God hasn't told you to assert yourself, let God do the work. Let God bring him to this point. We don't have to generate opportunities. You know, it's kind of like a salesperson. There's the kind of sales job where they're given leads, right?

It's like, hey, this guy really wants to buy from us. So can you call him and, you know, sell him the product? I'd say, well, that's a great job, right? I mean, you're giving all the contact. You're giving people who already want to buy. That's great. But then there's another kind of sales job where we don't know who wants to buy. We don't know if anybody wants to buy. You go figure out if anybody wants to buy. As we walk with the Lord, as we seek to minister to people around us for the Lord, we're given leads. God says, here's a person.

Now, we need to recognize it doesn't always take the form that, you know, Philip experiences here. You're not necessarily going to run alongside a car and, you know, jump in the car with somebody and share the gospel with them. They might run into your car and, you know, while you're on the side, you know, taking and exchanging insurance information. Well, then you find out

God wants to use this as an opportunity to minister. But you might miss it if you're, you know, too worked up over the accident and not willing to allow for God to work in these ways and bring you in contact with people that he wants to minister to through you.

And so there might be people who ask you questions. That's one way that God leads. That's one way that God gives you opportunity to minister. Now, whenever people invite you close like this, whenever people invite you to minister, then again, I would encourage you to respond like Philip. Look again at verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him. We've talked a lot about preaching Jesus, preaching the gospel as we've gone through the book of Acts. It's the focus here.

So as we have opportunity, let's make sure we take advantage of those opportunities and bring forth Jesus. Not bring forth a church, not bring forth a political agenda, not bring forth, you know, whatever message or morality that we want, but let's bring forth Jesus as we're given these opportunities to minister. Moving on to point number four in verse 36 through 39, another way that God might lead you to minister is

is God might change your heart on your way. God might change your heart as you're on the way to wherever you're on the way to. Now here in these verses, we're going to be looking more at the eunuch than at Philip and looking at this point. In verse 36, it says, now as they went down the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?

Then Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Here we see that something has transpired. The eunuch's heart was changed. As a result of this encounter with Philip, he now believes with all his heart. He's hearing the gospel. He's hearing about Jesus. He sees water. And notice whose idea it is for the eunuch to be baptized. It's his idea.

Philip doesn't say, okay, now that I've told you all these things, look, here's some water. You got to be baptized. No, the eunuch, his heart is in a place where he's so receptive. He says, hey, look, there's water. Can I be baptized?

He's excited about what God is doing and he's responding to that. Again, man, there's that need for us to really allow God to work in people's lives and not be the ones, you know, we don't force the dunking. You know, it's got to be volunteer. It's really got to be a work of God and not pressure from us. Again, sometimes God wants you to assert some pressure, but let him tell you that and don't just force it.

Let God do a work. This is how you want the people in your life to respond to the work of God, to be excited about what God's doing, to be excited about what God might do, and to be volunteering. Yes, sign me up. I want to be baptized. I want to follow Jesus. I want to respond to this. And he says, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Philip's like, well, do you believe with all your heart? You want to get baptized? That's great. Do you believe? Oh, I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I mean, great clarity here.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, he is the Son of God, equality with God. There's such substance here in this declaration of faith. It's clear his heart has been changed. Verse 38, so he commanded the chariot to stand still and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing.

This is always an amazing scene to consider. They stop the chariot. They get in the water. Philip baptizes him. As he comes out of the water, boom, Philip is gone. Caught up, taken away, raptured, but not to heaven. He appears somewhere else in the next verse. The eunuch looks around like, where'd he go? He didn't see him anymore. But notice what it says there in verse 39. And he went on his way rejoicing.

What did the eunuch do after this encounter, after this change? After his heart was changed, he believes in Jesus, he's baptized. What did he do? He went on his way. He continued on the journey that he was already on. He continued down the path, down the road that he was already traveling. He was on his way to Ethiopia from Jerusalem.

He has this encounter. It's a divine appointment. His heart is changed. His whole life is transformed, but he continues down the road that he was already on. Notice he doesn't go to Samaria. Perhaps Philip told him about Samaria. Well, see what happened to me was after the persecution in Jerusalem, I went up to Samaria. There was this cool work. I got to share the gospel. The eunuch doesn't go to Samaria. He doesn't go back to Jerusalem. I got to go hang out with the apostles, hear from Peter and John. They were with Jesus. Man, I want to learn more from them.

He doesn't stay with Philip and say, hey, I'm going to go hang out with you and I'm going to be your armor bearer and we're going to be side by side in ministry now because I got to hear the gospel from you and that's so exciting. He doesn't do any of those things. Instead, what does he do? He continues on his way. He goes back to Ethiopia and he goes there changed, rejoicing. God's done a work and changed his life. There's an early church story

one of the guys who was, you know, soon after these events transpired. Well, soon is kind of relative. It's probably about 100 years after. But Irenaeus writes about these things and says that the Ethiopian eunuch returned to Ethiopia and became a missionary to his own people. He says that he was sent into the regions of Ethiopia to preach what he himself had believed.

And so he goes on his way. His heart's been transformed on the way. And so now he's on the same path, but everything has changed. And he goes back and there's oral testimonies. There's written testimonies of, you know, a great work happening. We don't have anything in the scriptures, but there's history that suggests that there was a work that took place in Ethiopia. And it's suggested, it's believed that this guy went back and

had an impact because his life was changed. His heart was changed on the way. Now that can happen for us as well. And so again, considering the idea how God might lead you to minister, I would ask you to consider that. God might lead you to minister by speaking to your heart, by dealing with your heart. And it's not so much that he wants you to change course, but he wants you to continue the path that you're on

the journey that you're on. And I hope you understand that I'm speaking kind of broadly because this could, well, this could affect a lot of things. So let me just give a made up example in my head. I don't know what's happening in your life, but maybe God says, or maybe not even that, but maybe you have in your heart, I want to go to school. I need to go back to school. I need to do this. You know, I need to get this degree or I need to take these classes, whatever. And that's on your heart. And so you begin to do that. Well, as you're working to do that, God speaks to your heart. He changes your heart.

Your whole intentions originally for going, God says, throw those out. Here's new things I want to do. Here's something completely different. I want to radically change your life. But that doesn't mean that you're to quit this path, quit school, quit, you know, this journey that you're on. But continue that journey with the transformed heart that God has given to you.

And so that when you arrive at the destination, when you arrive at the goal, it's a different goal than you had at the beginning. It's different than what you originally expected. But many times you make plans and God will take those plans and repurpose them. Kind of keep the outer shell, but like take out the guts, put new guts in it. And it's like, okay, what you thought was going to happen, what you thought I wanted to do, I'm going to completely change that. But I still want you to go to that place. I still want you to go that direction. Okay.

When God changes your heart, sometimes he wants you to just continue on the path that you're on, but to do so with a heart that's changed, to be like the Ethiopian eunuch. He went on his way rejoicing. And so when you're headed to that meeting and you have an encounter with God on the way, continue the meeting and then live out the change that God has done.

Live out the life that God has given you in that meeting that you're on the way to. When you're headed that new direction and you have an encounter with God, he shows you, you know, all of your intentions and motivations, they were wrong. Here's what's really going on. Here's what I want to do. You know, change your heart, but continue down the path. Now, of course, if God tells you to change course, then change course. But don't assume that God automatically wants you to change course because he's changed your heart.

Maybe he wants to change your heart so that in that other environment or in that other location or in that meeting or in that place, well, you can demonstrate, you can be an example, you can shine the light of Christ to people that he wants to reach. Well, finally, point number five found in verse 40, God might lead you another way. And this is just kind of like wide open. Everything else fits here. Verse 40 says,

But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Philip is caught up. He just disappears after this baptism. He's found at Azotus, which is a little bit north on the coast of the Mediterranean. So the Ethiopian eunuch was on the way to Gaza, and so they were on that road somewhere. Then he is found at the beginning of that red line there, and he makes his way up the coast to Caesarea. It's about 53 miles that he travels up, and he's preaching the gospel all along the way. But I think it's interesting.

after this encounter, Philip doesn't go back to Samaria. I think if I was Philip, my automatic response would be, all right, got that meeting done, taken care of. All right, let's go back to Samaria. Let's go see what God's been doing. Let's go continue the work that's been going on there. So many good things were happening there. It was the beginning days of an exciting work. But he doesn't go back to Samaria. Why not? Why not?

Well, it doesn't tell us exactly why not. It doesn't tell us why he went up to Caesarea. But I think looking at this pattern in Philip's life and these accounts of him, he went that way because God was leading him that way. And we don't know how God led him because there's a million other ways that God could have led him, many other ways that God could have spoken to him. But what's interesting is he makes his way up to Caesarea and then 25 years later,

He's still in Caesarea. Acts chapter 21, Paul and his companions visit the area of Caesarea and Philip and his daughters who have the gift of prophecy ministered to them. God's plan for Philip, ultimately long-term, was in Caesarea. In the short term, the way that looked was, all right, you're in Jerusalem, and then you're in Samaria, and then you're in the desert, and then you're all along the path, and then he settles in Caesarea.

And we don't know exactly what God did, but God could have led him in a variety of ways, many different ways that God leads and speaks to people's hearts. You remember Pastor Chuck sharing how he was led to stay in Costa Mesa because he loved surfing. So he ran out of sermons and had to figure out a new way to develop sermons, and that's how he really developed the expositional teaching verse by verse through the Bible.

because he really loved surfing. He didn't want to leave. Prior to that, he rotated churches every couple of years because he would run out of sermons. And then, okay, I already taught all these sermons to these people. So let's move on to somewhere else where they haven't heard the sermons and we'll start over, but I don't want to leave. And as he would share, he loved the area. He loved the, and so God used that in his life to bring him to the point that he would minister in the powerful way that he did. God can lead in a variety of ways, any way he wants.

And so it really requires for us to be seeking the Lord daily, to continue to keep ourselves in this place of inviting the Lord to lead us every day. God could send you any day to Gaza. And that could be metaphorically, you know, somewhere around here that's kind of desert, or it could be literally to Gaza. God could send you any day. He could send you tonight. He could send you tomorrow.

God could do that. He could send you to someone. He could have you share the gospel. He could have you pray for someone. He could have you minister to someone at any point, at any time, because he's working in people's lives and he loves people. He wants to change them. He wants to reach them. And we need to be like Philip, to be open and responsive as God speaks. And so I would encourage you to break the formula in your head. God might work in a number of ways in your life. He might lead you using one method and then change

lead you again using another method just moments later. Be open to what God wants to do. Be flexible in hearing from the Lord and receiving his instruction. So many times we try to build formulas based on our experience. I think if I was Philip, after this encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch, I would be convinced God wants me to start a desert outreach ministry. Look how cool this was. I'm just going to wait here for the next chariot and run and catch up and see what happens. It's not a

God could have done that, and he would have told Philip that if he wanted that. But we set up these things in our heads where we have these expectations. And God says, you know, I want to do something different every day. I'm going to do something different. I'm going to work through you. I'm going to work in you. I'm going to speak to you differently. It keeps us. It requires that we really have a desire to know God, that we really have a desire to hear from God, and that we really seek God for his will in our lives. Looking at Acts chapter 8, it looks exciting. It

I want to have that kind of excitement in my life. I want to be open to the Lord to work in my life in that way. I think we all do. Let's keep ourselves in a place of receiving from God, being open to how God might lead us to minister. He might speak through an angel. The Spirit might speak to you. People might approach you and invite you to share. God might change your heart as you're on your way to some location or some place, or He might lead you in some other way, which I couldn't even imagine or think about.

But be open to that. Let God work in your life in that way. And finally, finishing up with a quote from Warren Wiersbe, he says, Philip left a great harvest to talk to one man. We must go where God sends us, do what God tells us, and leave the results with him. Let's pray. God, I pray for each of us that you would stir up within us a really soft heart. Lord, that it would be easy for you to turn us one way or another.

to get us on one highway or another, Lord, to put us in front of one person or another, Lord, that it would be easy for you to direct us. I pray that you would keep us in a position, Lord, that we would want to hear from you, that we would be desiring your will and your plans for us in such a way that we would be seeking you day by day and, Lord, even moment by moment. And God, I pray that you would direct us. Lord, give us the privilege and the honor to be part of your work in the lives of people around us.

I pray that you would use us. And Lord, when we have opportunity from you, that you would give us the boldness to preach Jesus to the people that you place in front of us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.